Church 101; Christ’s Crucifixion, as seen in “David and Goliath,”or “The Mystery of Golgotha!”

Genesis 6:4, “Nephilim, (giants) were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

What an interesting verse! What has this to do with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ you ask? Actually, it has very much to do with it. In this month’s lesson, not only will we examine Christ’s crucifixion, but we will also look at the location where it occurred. That place was “Golgotha;” (Hebrew for; the place of the skull.”)

Here is our theme verse: 1 Samuel 17:54, “And David took the head of the Philistine,(Goliath) and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.”

So, welcome everybody! Today we will embark on yet one more session of Church 101: class six. If you will recollect, in our last lesson, I stated that I would be devoting my next two blogs to Easter 2013. In Lesson five I traced Jesus’ lineage through both Mary and Joseph, all the way back through King David to Abraham. Now in this lesson six I will be discussing the actual Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Still, in order to completely comprehend Golgotha and the fullness of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, we must go back to Genesis one more time. People, you must understand there is much more to the fifty chapters of Genesis than what one reads. It is full of deep mysteries, and it is not even apocalyptic!

The Sons of God!

There are two prevailing Jewish Rabbinical thoughts on this phrase, “the sons of God;” both of these thoughts stem from the original Hebrew root word of Nephilim which is ” לפנ,” or naphal, which means “to fall.” The first theory is that these “sons of God” are some of the fallen angels who accompanied Satan when he rebelled against God. The other, which is more readily accepted by a portion of the current Jewish Rabbinical community, is that supposedly there were about three hundred angels assigned by God to instruct man during the “pre-diluvium” period. [1]

But, as the scriptures inform us, they rebelled also by going against God by intermingling with human women, thereby creating the Nephilim. It is not only my thinking but others as well, that the Greek mythological hero’s, Atlas, Hercules, etc., have the basis of origins because of these unholy unions. And also, this most likely is the origin for some of the “strange architecture” found around the world. And finally, this could be why Jude verse 6 says, “that left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”

By having some knowledge of these “fallen” angels, this verse is more easily understood. And because of their sin, which greatly influenced man’s propensity for evil, God cut them off, but destroyed all people by the flood.

Remember, only eight human beings lived through that fateful ordeal. These were Noah, his wife, and Shem, Ham and Japheth, their three sons, along with these men’s three wives. Assuming the Bible is true, which it is, and if Noah and his wife were righteous, as were Shem and his wife, then one might assume that a “seed” of that destroyed race of “fallen” men probably survived through one of the wives of unrighteous Ham or Japheth, or both.

One should comprehend that Goliath, and the other giants, was a descendent of these unrighteous Nephilim. After a careful reading of the Old Testament, more certainly the “Torah[2],” one will see that even at the time of the conquest of Canaan by Israel giants were among the various inhabitants which had to be defeated.[3] More readily, Goliath was probably a direct descendent of the giant Anak, who was from the region around Jericho. By the way, did you realize that Goliath was 19 ½ feet tall?

Okay, this should be enough background information about the giant Goliath, other than to mention that he was from Gath.[4] Now, combined with our first verse, “And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem,[5] we can easilyconceive the possibility of an old Jewish tradition that Golgotha was the location in Jerusalem where David buried Goliath’s head after he decapitated him! [Think about this; Goliath + Gath= Golgotha!] Interesting, huh?

Now to the Crucifixion

John 19:17, “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha.”

First we need to set our original scene…

1 Samuel 17:1-3. “Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.”

Now to set our crucifixion scene…

John 19:16-18, “Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.”

Okay, now I want to begin painting you a word picture describing the various parallels between these two seemingly unalike episodes. NOTE: Whereas, Israel fought for its very existence in a valley between two mountains, correspondingly, Jesus fought for the very existence of His “Church” between two thieves.

Correlation #1: Where

The Apostle Peter, in his defense before the Sanhedrin just after his miraculous delivery from the temple prison, makes this cutting statement in Acts 5:30, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.”

Peter refers to Christ’s cross as a tree. So, Christ’s battle for “our” existence was figuratively fought on a “tree”, so also did the battle between David and Goliath occur on a “tree!” Please understand the Hebrew word Elah which is translated “valley”, at its root actually means “tree!” Subsequently, we can therefore say that both David and Jesus fought and won their battles “on a tree!”

Correlation #2: Who

Having now established the location where these two different battles occurred, we now turn our attention to the four characters involved in each. In our first Old Testament battle young David faces Goliath. And in the second, the one in the New Testament, Jesus has to face Satan!

John in his Gospel informs us that Christ is love.[6] It is interesting that the root of the Hebrew word for David, has at its root meaning “love” also! Consequently both victors where personifications of LOVE!

On the other hand, our two villains’, Goliath and Satan, should be comprehended as follows; the Hebrew for Goliath means “to exile, and Satan, which is from the Greek means “accuser.” Goliath, therefore, was set on “exiling” Israel forever from their King, their land and their lives; likewise, by continuously accusing us, our adversary, Satan, is set on “exiling” believers from Christ, heaven and our promised “Eternal Life!”

Now Our complete Story

In the valley of Elah, “a tree” which lies between Shochoh and Azekah, young David, a man of love, faces Goliath¸ “the man of exile”. And here I need to add that this valley, this “tree,” was in the plain of Ephes-dammim, which has a meaning of “blood.”

So, again, armed only with his faith in God and a stone, “David’ a man of “love” on a “tree” standing in “blood,” faces his “exiler” Goliath, who is covered in brass, which Spiritually speaks of “judgement,” and not only knocks him out, but also decapitates him with his own sword! Likewise, his counterpart Christ, the other man of love, being “that stone which the builders rejected”, also armed only with his faith in God faces His accuser, Satan, and is also triumphant! Remember, Jesus has already declared in John 16:11, “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” And also in “Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

As Young David approaches Goliath, he pauses just long enough to gather five smooth stones for his sling. Two things about the number “five” need to be explained for you to fully understand this action.

First, many of you probably have possibly heard that Goliath supposedly had four brothers as the reason David needed five stones, one for him and then one for each brother. While this idea may be somewhat valid, my personal research has never found more than possibly one brother for Goliath. But on the other hand, it has uncovered that Goliath did have four sons!

The second meaning of the number five deals with how this number is understood in what is commonly termed “numbers in the scriptures” and how they are used and understood. Spiritually speaking, “five” is the number said to represent “grace.” Therefore, with a stone and his “faith,” it was God’s grace which allowed David to prevail over Goliath who had been judged and beheaded him. Paralleling this, Jesus, the “stone” with His faith in his Father’s Grace prevails over Satan, having been judged himself, and “beheads” him also!

Remember, the Bible is more than mere words; more than stories, than laws or prophecies.

It is to be your very life!

Proverbs 3:1-6, “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Here is our vocabulary

The English meaning of these…Goliath means, “To exile”,

At six cubits and a span, Goliath was “19 ½” feet in height!!

He had had a coat of mail, 5000 shekels of brass, or between125 and 172 lbs.

[1] I cannot substantiate these two ideas other than by saying, “I have paraphrased these thoughts from two rather prominent Evangelical theologians who have spent much time in Israel with both Orthodox and Messianic Rabbis and their extensive libraries.

[2] The first five books of The Old Testament sometimes referred to the “The Books of The Law.”

[3] Numbers 13:33-14:1, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

[4] 1 Samuel 17:4, “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.”